Margaret Menamin

A great friend to the community of formalist poets and a tremdous poet in her own right, Margaret Menamin, has died at the age of 71. Margaret, whom I never met personally, helped me a great deal, both as a workshop critic and as an exemplary sonneteer. She will be greatly missed.

Here is a sonnet of Margaret’s in the February issue of The Chimaera. It is a light verse issue–some of Margaret’s best work is very, very funny.

Letter to Santa Claus

I warn you, Santa, don’t bring me a thing!
My house already bulges at the seams
with nauseating peanut butter creams,
stale fruitcakes and hard cookies. If you bring
another reeking sampler of bad cheese
or chintzy vinegars that masquerade
as vintage Cabernets, then I’m afraid
I’ll use a crowbar on your jolly knees.

Forget the tasteless doodads for the tree:
they’ll only go to Goodwill one week hence.
And no more candles with those cloying scents
that have me sneezing through Epiphany.

I’ll tell you what: Just come and bring your pack
with nothing in it. Take this garbage back.